What is Forever?
by iron woman
Summary: Someone is Rory's life is hurt. Take a look into their's and the lives of the other members of the gang 'the Rogue' as, one by one, they fall apart. Leaving Rory with only herself, and her two best friends by her side. Please R&R. This is obviously AU.
1. In The Beginning,

**The Beginning**

"Finn, how could you do this to me?", Rory started to sob, "You promised me _forever_. Colin, someone, please help him!" Rory took out her phone and dialed 911. As she talked to the kind operator, she watched Colin try to help her best friend get up off the floor and into a chair without hurting him even more that he already was. "Finn, stay with me!", Colin shouted in his ear. That didn't seem to work, Finn passed out right then, the ambulance pulled up at that moment, ready to take him to the hospital. Colin motioned for Rory to go with Finn and that he would take the black SUV, she tossed him the keys and clambered into the back of the wailing vehicle. She closed her eyes and leant her head against the "wall". She tried to convince herself that, even though her gang had fallen apart and only her two best friends had stood beside her as the world around her crumbled to the ground, the shooter hadn't meant to kill Finn and had aimed for a part of his body that would only injure him…

* * *

1 year earlier

She sat on the floor in the hall of Zuberg, staring blankly at the wall in front of her. Tears started to run down her cheeks as she started to absorb the news that she had just been given; her best friend, her partner in crime, her rock, her mother was no longer part of this world. Rory decided that she would try to do things "Lorelai" style now that she was the only one left. As she got up from the floor, she felt a pair of arms encircle her waist.

"What's wrong love? You seem a little bit more than upset." His voice was all she needed to start crying again, her mother had loved the accent in his voice. "She- she's- g-g-g-gone!" Rory became more and more hysterical as she turned and saw Finn. "She's gone! My best friend, who's next? You? I don't want to lose you Finn! Don't take Colin away either! Please, no! I love you Finn, I need you. Don't leave me…." He didn't know what to do, should he find help? Should he get Colin? What about the rest of the gang? "I'll never leave you love. I'm sure Colin won't either. Shhhh…..babe you need to calm down." "Calm down?!? You expect me to calm down?" She was shouting at him now, staring at him with sad blue eyes. "Breath, Rory, breath. I promise that I'll always be here for you, no matter what happens." "You swear?" "On my honor as an Aussie, I Finnegan Morgan Rothschild the 8th promise to you, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore the 3rd, that I will never leave you and will stick to you like a burr through thick and thin."

The two heard footsteps coming up from behind them and turned around. "and I, Colin McRae, swear on my trait of being tight assed and on my precious sweater vests that I, like Finn, will always be here for you.", Rory smiled. She like that her two favorite people (not to mention her 'other' best friends) were as dedicated to her as she was to coffee. "Thank you both very much. We'll need to find a way to remember this……any ideas?" "Welll. we could go to a parlor and get a tat.", Finn was grinning when he mentioned the thought. "Or, we could do the whole mixing of blood thingy." "Ugh! Definitely not, that's disgusting Colin!" "It was just an idea!" "Idea, shmidea, we'll never come up with anything if we keep coming up with ides like that!" Rory wined while trying to find something inside her brain that wasn't completely out of line. "Maybe mom will have some ideas! I'll call her right- oh." She burst into tears a she realized what she was saying. Finn sat down on a nearby bench and rocked her back and forth, swaying ever so gently as if he was holding an thin piece of glass that had a sharp edge, already starting to cut deep into the hearts of the three teens. "Darling, it will all be ok. Life won't be the same but she'll live on inside of us. If we really try, we probable could become the three sides of Lorelai." Rory hiccupped and gave a small chuckle "I'm not sure how much she would like to have heard you say that there are three of her. She only has one clone who just happens to be right here!" She jabbed her chest with her fingers and then sat up, resting with her back against Finn's chest. She patted the seat next to her, indicating that Colin should sit down. She whispered something in the latter's ear and he nodded. "So, Finn, do you know where the nearest parlor is or are you just guessing like last time we went looking for something?" Colin seemed to love teasing Finn about the time where he had gotten them lost because he had no clue in hell where to find the bar that they were looking for. "Oh, I know where it is. I'll be able to find it in a snap once we are outside the door. Maybe I should go and look it up," Finn pushed Rory off of his lap and into Colin's, "Here, you can have her. I'm going to go find a couple of designs and a place where we can get them done."

_AN: That's all for now folks! I hope you have enjoyed this first chapter. I'm not sure about what the design should be….I have one designed for A is for Ace (I guess I sorta have an obsession with tattoo's to symbolize a certain thing) but I'm not sure if I should do something like In Omnia Paratus or E Pluribus Unum (out of many, one). Got any suggestions. Should I have a pairing for this? PDLD, Cory, I'll do anything except for RoryDave, Literati (RoryJess), and Narco (RoryDean). One more thing, I am going to be using a way of writing so that I write a little about the present and then go on with what I was talking about in the prev. chap. Does that make any sense? If not, you get it once I have done another chapter. Bye For Now. _


	2. Time Passes, but for whom?

_Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Gilmore Girls or the lives of Rory, Finn, Colin, Emily and Richard, etc. who belong to Amy Sherman-Paladino and the CW. I also do not own the name "The Rogue" which belongs to Tamora Peirce. I hope that I have run out of things that do not belong to me. Enjoy the chapter!_

"Finnegan Rothschild! Finnegan Rothschild! Mr. Rothschild, I do hope that this is not one of your silly tricks!" It was the first day of school; roll call and the handing out of planners and other supplies hat were given to the various students by the school. Deciding that it would be best for her friend not to be reported by the teacher as late, Rory raised her hand. 'Yes Ms. Gilmore?" "Finn's in the hospital. He won't be coming to school for a while..." "Thank you very much for this information Ms. Gilmore, can you take his supplies to him or should I give them to Mr. McRae?" "I think I'll take them, ma'am" "Alright then Rory. Here is his planner and books, not that he'll ever use them," surprisingly, the teacher winked at her before turning back to her list of students. Rory waited until Ms. Varbell had turned away until she turned her head around to look for Colin. Once she saw him, she hurried towards him so that no one else would see the tears that were forming in her eyes. Colin wrapped his arms around Rory and kept her close 'It'll all be alright Ror, I'm sure of it. He'll be fine.' he whispered it in her ear. Unfortunately for the duo, the girls around them heard what Colin was saying and looked at each other, wondering what was going on between Finn and Rory. "Maybe she's pregnant with his child…", "Maybe he's got some sort of cancer…", "Maybe she's with Colin and because, as we all know, Finn was in love with Rory he got himself drunk and then in a car accident or something…". Rumors were flying every where around the boarding school.

During lunch that day, Rory and Colin sat in the corner of the cafeteria, trying to keep out of the spotlight of the room. It seemed that their efforts weren't working tough as almost everyone in the small room was looking at them, either in glances or just plain staring. Both Colin and Rory were starting to become a little bit uncomfortable being under the microscope of their peers. They stood up and headed towards the headmasters office, which just happened to be down the hall. Rory hesitantly reached up and knocked on the door. 'Come in!' yelled a voice from inside. Colin opened the door and wrapped his other arm around Rory's waist, slightly pushing her farther into the room. "Ms. Gilmore, Mr. McRae I assume that you are enjoying your first day back," Headmaster Wilcox smiled warmly at the two teens. "Of course sir," Colin out on one of his most charming smile, he was usually the one to speak to the authority since he was one of the most convincing voices the trio, or any one as a matter of fact, had ever seen. Rory did the acting for the group; she helped to prove the point of what they wanted which usually pushed the person into sympathy or whatever was needed. Finn for the most part did both of these parts, his accomplice in acting was obviously Rory. The two were able to act out almost anything which was one of the reasons people thought they were so in love, even if it was just an act. One of the reasons this "snapshot", which is what Colin and Finn called it when they were planning, worked was because Rory and Finn were so close and the other was because they had such different personalities… "There is one thing though headmaster Wilcox. Rory and I are having difficulties concentrating without Finn around; it's really hard to go through the day with everyone asking us questions." Rory started to cry softly into Colin's shoulder; the sad part was that both Colin and Rory herself knew that those tears weren't from acting. "It's tearing Rory up to have to talk about it," Colin said this in a whisper while rubbing circles on the said girls back. "Is there any reason that you are coming to me about this Mr. McRae?" The man that was sitting behind the desk had a look of pure sympathy and concern on his face. "Yes sir. Rory was saying that one of the things that she was really having a hard time with was the fact that she isn't seeing him at lunch which made me think that maybe you would be able to let us go and visit him during the Zuberg lunch break. We would be back before classes would start and both Rory and I could catch him up with what we were learning the first half of the morning." Colin let his request sink in while Rory looked at the headmaster with large, watery eyes. "I think that we would be able to come to an agreement with this Mr. McRae and Ms. Gilmore," the headmaster smiled at the two. '_At least he's nicer than Headmaster Charleston…'_ Rory and Colin both thought. "You would really do that sir?" "Yes Ms. Gilmore I would and will do that. I will set up a car to take you to and from the hospital. Be sure to be back before class starts though." Rory gave him a bright smile, "Yes sir, I'll make sure that both of us make our classes before the last bell rings." The man laughed. "Off you go then! I shall see you two later."

As they walked slowly into the polished and 'way too sanitary for your own liking' room, Rory and Colin saw that Finn was propped up against a couple of pillows and was watching an infomercial that happened to be playing on the room television. There was a bandage wrapped around his torso, concealing the bullet and other wounds that were covering the muscular area of his body. Finn's body was particularly muscular due to the fact that he, like Colin and Rory, worked out every day just to be able to keep up with each other and the fitness needed to be 'one of the gang'. "Hey sweetheart, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Finn said it in a light whisper that probably wouldn't have been heard by the untrained ear. Rory crawled into the bed with Finn and tried to cuddle into his side without hurting him. The Crown sat on his shoulder, today it could be seen in all its glory, the symbol of fire, passion and devotion. "Rory traced the intricate lines with her pale and thin fingers, "What are we going to do about this?" She said it calmly but her voice wavered, showing her true feelings to her comrades. Finn rested his head on her shoulder and sighed. "Well, I guess we just take it a step at a time. Try to keep to ourselves as much as possible and get good grades. We probably should also try to not act suspicious." "Where's that gonna get us Colin? Were gonna be in this same fuckin' rut. You should forget about me and just move on, I'm too much of a liability now that I'm hurt." "Shut it Finn, you wrong. We need you. More specifically, **I** need you. I can't live without you; you should know that by now." "You put that down in writing and I'll believe you." "I'll get you a mirror; you already have that note attached to you." Rory poked the small tattoo that was inside the crown. "το αντίδοτό μου σε όλα τα δηλητήρια, my antidote to all poisons. I wrote it myself right there," Rory jabbed the spot. She stared at him for a minute before hopping off the bed and walking out of the room. Colin sighed after Rory left, knowing where she was going and what she was going to do. "So…..Here are all of your books, the Headmaster had us bring them to you." Finn smiled at his friend, "Thanks, mate. I'm sure the teachers were royally pissed that I wasn't at school today." "Yeah, sure. I'm going to go and find her before she does something really stupid like the last time, that ok with you?" "Just find her before things turn out for the worst. I hate seeing her like that. Too pale for my liking." Although he had been trying to crack a joke, neither of them smiled as Colin quickly left the room to find their Princess. After he had left, Finn brought his hand up to right under his shoulder blade and slowly traced the words he knew were there. She wrote a personal message under both of their Crowns after she had finished them. Both Colin, Logan and him had written something on each spike of hers. What had Logan's said? Only she would know, Logan was too dead to tell the rest of them.

_AN: Alrighty, this chapter, as you can tell, was altered and added and stretched and changed to what mood was in my mind. I decided to add a little bit of Logan into the story. I am hoping to update both A is for Ace and this story soon and hope that people will review. VERY special thanks to _Curley-Q _who seems to be my only reviewer for this story... :) well, to those who are reading this and are either reluctant or shy to press the purple button that is diagonal from this, please do. I don't need a whole lot of what you think. Jus tenough to know that this story is appreciated. Too much rambling going on in this AN. I leave you be now. Aurevoir for now. _


	3. Amazing Grace The Sound Ain't That Sweet

_Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Gilmore Girls or the lives of Rory, Finn, Colin, Emily and Richard, etc. who belong to Amy Sherman-Paladino and the CW. I also do not own the name "The Rogue" which belongs to Tamora Peirce. I hope that I have run out of things that do not belong to me. Enjoy the chapter!_

Colin strolled up to the front desk, trying to look casual but not accomplishing what he was going for. "Excuse me Miss", He tried to sweeten his words up but they seemed to be a little harsh. "How can I help you?" "Did you happened to see a girl with brown hair and blue eyes go past here just a few minutes ago?" "Yes, she went in the direction of the parking lot" "Thank you very much, bye" Colin ran out the door and into the blacktop forest of cars.

"Rory!" Colin scanned the lot before running over to a black 4Runner. Rory was in the front seat, having broken in, and was trying to start the car. "What the hell are you thinking?!? You could make the car explode!" After much kicking and screaming, Rory was out of the car and crying in Colin's arms.

"Calm down… it's alright. Breathe, Ror. We need to get back to school with you in one piece and with only one member in the hospital." After hearing the worry in Colin's voice, Rory calmed down. "What would I do without you?" She looked up at Colin's face while waiting for an answer. "Fall apart probably… you're a strong girl but, you do have some emotional issues. I definitely am the best one to tell you that, seeing as we've been around each other for the longest comparing to the other members and such. "Yup." Silence followed as they got into Colin's Martin.

"Colin, why is it that we're the only ones in the original Rogue left? I mean whoever is trying to kill us off has moved onto the newer people and just skipped over us." "I'm not sure, I Think it may be that they are trying to scare us into handing over command to them before they kill us, so then whoever was faithful would HAVE to follow our 'wishes' of this new group being lead of the pack."

"That won't ever happen right?" "Not on my watch, sweetheart, my crown doesn't say 'always and forever devoted' for nothing does it?" "NO", Rory said forcefully while Colin laughed at the response. "That was supposed to be a rhetorical question Rory." "Well screw that, I like to talk." "Sure." "I think I'm scared Colin," Rory's voice became childish and quiet. "I think I am too Ror."

_An: stick with me this gets a little confusing… let me know if you want and explanation_

"Thank you for checking in with me Ms. Gilmore, Mr. McRae.", the headmaster smiled and inclined his head towards both teens in turn. "I'll write a slip for your teacher which will explain why you two are a little late." Colin smiled, "Thank you sir."

Jess, Tristan, Colin and Rory walked out of the office, breathing a sigh of relief. "Thank god he took the bait." "O course he would DuGrey, he's like a fish taking a worm from a hook when it comes to Rory's puppy face." Tristan sighed, "Jess was that supposed to be funny, the whole fish and worm thing?"

"No Ace, I'm no good with joking. You of all people should know that." Logan looked at Rory with wide eyes while Colin and Tristan were sniggering in the background, it was the first time they had laughed since Jess had died. Rory looked at Logan sternly, "Do you really expect me to fall for that?"

"Yes love, I do. Logan and Colin here surely must agree with me that I am the most trustworthy person in the world, other than Tristan. But that doesn't count since he's dead." Rory burst into tears and ran off.

"Rory!", Colin shouted at her, trying to wake her from her daze of memories. "Sorry about that Colin, what were you saying?" "I was trying to get you to hurry up, I don't want to be any later for class than we already are." "Well then, what are you waiting for? Lets go!"

­­­­­­­­­

When Rory and Colin entered the classroom, Rory stepped over to the teacher's desk and handed over the slip. However, as she did, the sleeve of her shirt scrunched back. To say that the class was shocked was an understatement. There were cuts running all the way up her arm. Quickly realizing what everyone was staring at, Rory put her hands behind her back. "Thank you Ms. Gilmore, Mr. McRae." The teacher sweetly smiled at them and motioned for them to sit down. She and Colin looked at each other at sat down. Rory subconsciously pulled her sleeves down and motioned for Colin to somehow cover up the tiny print tattoos that might be showing, although they hadn't yet. Each of those little blue sections of print had the name of a member, the name of a cut. Silently, Rory prayed that she wouldn't have to add another cut anytime soon. Not that they hurt her, just because of the reasons they had been made had started to cut out her heart. Who would be next to take a swipe at the thing that was so often kept in a cage away from outsiders? And this time, would her heart fall out?

Colin looked worriedly over at Rory. "We fit perfectly together in life, love passion and fear." Secretly, Colin wondered if this message that she had written so long ago was still true. He knew that the cuts that ran the deepest were Lorelai, Lane, Tristan and Jess. "All of Likes coffee that will ever be brewed doesn't even come close to how much I love you". "This girl's best friend is, gues who, me!". "Bible Boy, my soul is yours and you didn't even have to ask. This of course was signed with crossed fingers!". "My life is left to you in my will as well as my books. Don't write in them!" Although Colin seemed to be better than most black suits when it came to being stoic, on the inside he was sobbing. Silently, he counted the names and asked himself what it would take to have Rory never added to that list.

_AN: I feel so bad for not writing in such a LONG time! I've had this for ages but have been so busy. Anyways, I have another chapter that I will post in two seconds but wanted to be like the lovely TV experts and give a little suspense to my story… Thank you so much for reading! PS. I've changed my mind. The story could be PDLD, Literati, or Trory depending on how you look at it._


	4. Death Is Such An Easy Thing To Handle

Colin and Rory drove home after school so that they could rest a little before starting a case. Since they were so close and Rory was technically an adult, they had bought a house for the Rogue, mainly Colin and Rory, to live in. They reached their destination and went in.

Rory went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, a jug of coffee and a pack of sour bears. She put up the full security system and walked into the bedroom.

"What's the game plan for tonight?", She asked when Colin came in. "I was thinking dinner and a movie. Then we can look at what activity has been going on. Sadly, am sorta hoping that we have a case because I'm getting bored." "Really? Colin, I'm surprised. Normally you hate having to do anything but hoot at girls." "Well, after Finn was shot, I suddenly felt the need to enforce the law."

When he said this, Rory broke out into a huge grin. "Wow. I'll have to tell Finn that he has helped me greatly. Surely he must now be called "The God of the Rogue": Holy and worshipped by all for the rest of his life." She mimicked bowing down to an imaginary person. "Oh great Finn. I thank you for turning my best friend, Colin towards the light. I am forever grate-"

"Rory?" "I'm fine, grab a gun and go down stairs. I have to negotiate some thing. I'll let you know when to come back up." "But, Rory!" "No buts. Just go! So then the most important person in my life gets hurt or worse, killed." "Hey! That reminds me of that Harry Potter movie that you forced my to watch!" "Ugh. Go, Colin!" Colin vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Mr. Huntzberger, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Rory turned around. "Aww Ace, how did you know it was me?" "Shut your mouth you son of a bitch traitor, don't you EVER call me that again!" "Ouch, looks like someone has some anger management problems." With his hands up to show that he didn't want to be shot, Logan Elias Huntzberger stepped out of the shadows to face his former Queen and best friend eye to eye.

"Look who's talking! Couldn't you have found a better way than shooting me to get my attention? A dart in the wall would have been just as good. You know as well as I do that Colin isn't the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to silent darts."

"But Ace, that would've taken the fun out of the whole thing…" Logan smiled. "You really think I give a damn if this is fun for you or not? And don't call me that. You don't have the right to anymore."


End file.
